British Battle Tanks: British-Made Tanks of World War II

Comments: Hardcover, 280 pages, black-and-white photos
ISBN 9781472820037
Price: $30
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
From the publisher: Plagued by unreliable vehicles and poorly thought-out doctrine, the early years of World War II were years of struggle for Britain’s tank corps. Relying on tanks built in the late 1930s, and those designed and built with limited resources in the opening years of the war, they battled valiantly against an opponent well-versed in the arts of armored warfare. This book is the second of a multivolume history of British tanks by renowned British armor expert David Fletcher, MBE. It covers the development and use of the Matilda, Crusader, and Valentine tanks that pushed back the Axis in North Africa, the much-improved Churchill which fought with distinction from North Africa to Normandy, and the excellent Cromwell tank of 1944-45. It also looks at Britain’s super-heavy tank projects, the TOG I and TOG II, and the Tortoise heavy assault tank, designed to smash through all battlefield obstacles but never put into production.

FSM says: An encyclopedic guide to all tanks British: Production tables, developmental details of variants, cutaway views, unique views of components, schematic drawings, and lists and descriptions of foreign operators are among the information provided.